Pricing anomalies F and Y cabins, etc. (consolidated)
 

The pricing routines in the system seem to be going haywire. How do you run an airline with this kind of pricing? Or are they smart as a fox?

Looking at ORD/RSW for June 29. One way.

First flexible, refundable is $606.
Non-refundable discount First is $720! More than refundable First.

But it gets better.

Choice plus economy is $615. More than refundable First.
Choice essential is $605 - just $1 less than refundable First.

There are 12 first seats showing on AA.com and F7 A7 on Amex travel. A lot of seats available in Y too. Two weeks out with that much availability A fares are usually around $370. I wonder if this is a new strategy to monetize first by making Y so expensive that someone grabbing F for about the same price (or even less) might think they are getting a good deal, whereas if they waited a few more days, A fares will likely be below $400.

What do you think?

I think high demand, high prices and the lowest priced seats / fare buckets have been taken some time ago. RM knows what they are doing pretty well; .

Maybe, but demand is not that high to RSW this time of year. There are 4 daily flights ORD/RSW in the spring, then they scale it down as demand drops all the way to a single flight right now. Flights will start getting added in the fall.

I suspect that by next week these fares will drop like a rock - unless they fool some people into buying over-priced first.

I love the idea of AA making $$ off of the corporate policies, many of which are so narrow-minded that dictate Y-cabin no matter what!

Completely rational. What would be irrational is for someone paying for this not to buy F-cabin!

It'll be interesting for the OP to keep an eye on these and let us know. Sometimes these anomalies can be caused by a convention, etc. and will be restricted to a few days around that. (Translation: I am too lazy to check these out personally ;).)

That possibly explains me being able to get a TPAC F ticket for $1,700 less than J not too long ago (businesses specifying only J allowed for international travel).

Either that or it was a glitch in the system.

In that case, I will write a short prayer: "AA IT, please be ever so merciful and give us more such glitches." :D

All of the evidence in this thread points to the contrary. The over-all proof would be if AA were making resounding profits. That hasn't happened for years. There are many reasons for the USAir take over, but AA RM incompetence is probably one of them.

There are a couple of issues going on here. One the AA website is still screwing up the display of fares and 2 and you have to dive into your fare rules. It's a website issue that needs to be fixed, and no excuse since it's been going on for a while.

If you actually dive into the fare rules on many fares, you will find these refundable fares actually are not by the rule. The matrix is not displaying properly. Time to get it fixed.

Well today the prices changed at least twice. Right now in the evening First flexible is still $606 but now First non refundable is down to $447. Y is now all the way down to $298 to $342 depending on the option chosen. These are rather dramatic swings in price over a day. And I am sure they will change again. Anyone who yesterday grabbed a non refundable F ticket thinking they were getting a deal, must be pretty irritated right now.

Company policy at my previous employer was NO F even if CHEAPER than Y. Really stupid and AA seems to understand this.

Airline pricing is dynamic. Hotel room rates are dynamic as well and I have seen room rates go from $109 to over $200 in a matter of hours (generally a couple of days before or same day).

At 13 days out, suddenly raising/lowering the fare creates panic/relief for anyone monitoring and many will act accordingly.

Same issue
 

I was watching a flight for more than two weeks, well over a month out (OMA-SAN). For those two weeks, I watched the price go from around $500 to $850 (and on some days, it was showing over $1k for about 12 hours). For the most part, it tracked right at $850, with first being about $879. I didn't compare the choices, but this is an insane price, considering you could fly almost all other airlines for about $450 or so. I didn't understand it either.

I'm not so sure it's actually RM who is to blame for the debAAcle.

First class close in pricing
 

What is the business model for pricing first lower than coach when the travel date gets close?
I have seen this on the AA website . I would think there are more coach seats available to sell and just a few first to sell. Thenthey would have to adjust the pricing again when first is sold out ( even with a percentage of oversell built in)



Any ideas?